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Kamal U. Saikh, John S. Lee, Teri L. Kissner, Beverly Dyas, Robert G. Ulrich, Toll-Like Receptor and Cytokine Expression Patterns of CD56+ T Cells Are Similar to Natural Killer Cells in Response to Infection with Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis Virus Replicons, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Volume 188, Issue 10, 15 November 2003, Pages 1562–1570, https://doi.org/10.1086/379196
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Abstract
Using the natural killer (NK) cell-surface marker CD56 to study NK T cells in peripheral blood, we found that their frequency in mononuclear cells among healthy individuals was 1%–20% (average, 7.3%) and sporadically increased 4–5-fold within individuals over the course of 8 months. Infection of mononuclear cells in vitro with Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus replicon particles (VRPs) resulted in a significant increase in CD56+ T cells and in the expression of interferon-α, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)–α, and interferon-γ by CD56+ but not CD56− T cells. NK and CD56+ T cells expressed higher levels of Toll-like receptor (TLR)–3 and TLR4 after infection with VRPs, whereas only NK cells expressed inducible TNF-α and TLR2. Most of these effects were duplicated by activating mononuclear cells with double-stranded RNA. These expression patterns indicate that T cells coexpressing NK markers respond like NK cells to viral infection or double-stranded RNA, potentially fulfilling innate and adaptive immune functions